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Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C): CEO Vikram Pandit steps down after five years

Friction between Vikram
Pandit and the board of directors in Citigroup Inc.(NYSE:C) lead to Pandit
resigning from his post. However, he was not alone, since along with him, the
COO, John Havens also quite the job. The tension between the board as well as
Pandit was over the ideology followed regarding the performance of the bank, as
well as the strategy behind it. Both the men, now 55, resigned from their posts
in the New York- based company. This happened on Tuesday, which also came as a
shock to most of the employees at Citigroup. Mike Corbat is to take Pandit’s
place as the CEO of the third largest bank in the United States of America.

The shock was relevant
even for the senior officials in the bank because Pandit had not hinted at a
desire to leave the bank. He had plans for the bank, and he was intending to
implement them up until the time that the focus shifted to the bank’s
international operations.

Vikram Pandit had
entered the bank at a time of grave financial crisis, and he had rebuilt the
structure of the bank to yield profits very soon. The global franchise had been
made stronger under him, as was the focus on the business. Pandit had also lead
the company to recapitalize. It was under Pandit that Citigroup was able to pay
back the loan it had taken from the government. This was done in 2008 and 2009.
Under his leadership, the bank also managed to sell off substantial amounts of
money in unwanted assets, which ran to millions. The company, under his
guidance, has come to earn about $11 Billion dollars after so many years.

However, this is not to
say that his system was flawless. Shareholders revolted over the pay of
executives, the Federal Reserve rejected the idea of buying back some of the
stocks, and other such issues have cropped up. However, the fact remains that
he had still managed to rescue the bank when it was sinking. After he left, the
shares rose by thirty percent to $36.96 on Tuesday, during midday trading.